The Evolution of Sheldon
by notjaneausten
Summary: It's movie night at Sheldon's and the gang can't help but notice how anxious he is getting when Amy's time of arrival has been and gone. When she finally arrives after experiencing a traumatic event at the lab, all she wants to do is go home. How can Sheldon persuade her to stay with him? DISCLAIMER: All characters remain the property of Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady; Hail!
1. Chapter 1

Dr. Sheldon Cooper had made an amazing discovery and had invited his friends around to his apartment to share in the excitement. He'd found a Blu-ray version of the classic movie Tron and had graciously invited everyone to share in his discovery; it seemed strange to him that they would initially be hesitant to accept this thrilling invitation; but everyone soon agreed to come over when they heard that he would foot the bill for the evening meal. At the moment there was only Sheldon, Leonard and Penny in the apartment and the two doctors were in the middle of a debate over what food they should order in.

"But it's not Monday, Leonard! We always order Thai food on a Monday, we have pizza on Thursdays which really only leaves us Italian tonight."

"Sheldon, pizza is Italian," Leonard tried to explain and was overruled again.

"Not the way I order it, it's not; and besides which, I'm paying so that means I get to choose. Ha, ha." Sheldon quipped and telephoned the order in. Howard and Bernadette arrived a few minutes later and cozied up next to each other in the large armchair beside the TV. Sheldon was in his usual spot with Leonard at the other end with Penny sandwiched between them. Raj couldn't make it that evening as Cinnamon had been taken to the vets for her yearly vaccinations and he'd decided that he couldn't leave his precious baby on her own in the apartment when she was clearly traumatised by the day's events.

"Dinner should be here soon, shall we watch the previews while we're waiting for it to arrive?" Leonard asked, fingers poised over the remote control. Sheldon looked up and arched an eyebrow in derision.

"Leonard, has it completely escaped your attention that we are still waiting for Amy's arrival? Honestly, what would she think if we were to start watching without her presence?"

"Probably something along the lines of 'thank god, it's nearly over'," Penny murmured to whisper in Leonard's ear, completely forgetting Sheldon's acute sense of hearing. The snort coming from his end of the couch soon let her know that he'd picked up on her snide comment.

"What time's she coming over, Sheldon?" Howard called out, looking at his watch and calculating how long it would be before he and his little snuggle bunny could escape from Sheldon's clutches and go back to their apartment.

"Hmm…?" Sheldon said distractedly as he looked up from his watch, and then picked up his phone to check whether he'd received any missed calls or text messages explaining her delay. Howard chuckled softly, it was the first time he'd ever not had Sheldon reply to any of his questions; even if they were in a sarcastic vein.

"Howie asked what time…"

"I heard him, I just can't understand why she wouldn't have called to explain her absence; it really is most unlike Amy to be late. You know how punctual she is, we are rather alike in that manner you know."

"Yeah, we know." Leonard remarked sarcastically from the other end of the couch and yelped when Penny punched him lightly on the arm. "Hey, that hurt!"

"It was supposed to, you big dummy! Can't you see that Sheldon's upset?" Penny sighed impatiently, honestly it was tiring sometimes having a boyfriend with no filter from his brain to his mouth. She shifted a little closer to Sheldon on the couch and risked lightly patting his arm. "Why don't you give her a call, Sheldon?"

"And act like some hippy dippy who's tracking his girlfriend's every move, no siree!" Sheldon's fingers were itching to snatch up his phone and do exactly what Penny suggested but he didn't want everyone to think that he was the type of person that would be lead by his glands.

"Alright, sweetie. I'll give her a call instead, okay?"

"Thank you, Penny, thank you!" Sheldon beamed over at his neighbour who smiled back in return before pulling her pink phone from her back pocket and scrolled through until she found Amy's number.

"Ames…? Where are you? We're all waiting on you at Sheldon's?...Oh…well, okay…sure sweetie, I'll tell him…See you later..Bye…" Penny disconnected the call and turned to face the rest of the group. "Amy's having a little problem at the lab, she said to start without her and she'll be here as soon as she can."

"Little problem, what kind of little problem?" Sheldon leant over to stare at Penny, demanding more details.

"She didn't want to go into details over the phone, but it sounded like she was pretty upset…she said that she didn't feel like eating, but would come over for a bit once it's all cleared up…Maybe an hour, that's all she said." Penny patted Sheldon's arm again and he sank back into his spot. He leapt up as he heard the knock at the door, and raced over to pull it open – only to see that it was their take out delivery instead of Amy.

"Oh…thank you." Sheldon handed over the money and accepted the carrier bag of food, which he set down on the coffee table and watched as everyone started to pull out their orders.

"Sheldon…?" Leonard's voice cut through his distracted thoughts and Sheldon half turned to face his room mate and murmured distractedly.

"Hmmm….?"

"Your lasagne's getting cold." Leonard tapped the foil container containing Sheldon's order. "You know you don't like to let your food get below 160 degrees; it's unhygienic and you'll have to throw it away."

"No, thank you, Leonard. I think I'll wait until Amy gets here and warm it up then. She may be hungry by then and someone's eaten her spinach cannelloni." Sheldon's quiet remark came as a complete surprise to the room; first he was displaying anxiety over his girlfriend's late arrival and now he was offering not only to reheat his meal – but to share it with her as well! Who was this man, and what had he done to the real Sheldon Cooper?

"Maybe we should just start the movie and you can catch her up on the parts she missed later." Bernadette suggested as she snuggled next to Howard in the armchair; they fit perfectly side by side in the chair due to their diminutive statures but it was still nice and cosy.

"I bought it for Amy to watch, it was one of her favourite sci-fi movies…" Sheldon remarked, and then quickly pressed play on the remote before anyone could remark on his hippy dippy habit of buying things that he knew his girlfriend would like. "There will be no need to fill her in, as I am sure her memory skills are almost as excellent as my own," The group chose not to remark on his comments, knowing that it would only make Sheldon all the more uncomfortable.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: This turned out to be a little different than I had originally planned, it was going to be just a little one shot about how Amy earned her own spot on the couch next to Sheldon - but I guess just like Sheldon on the show, he insisted that things went a little differently...**

An hour passed and then another fifteen minutes, before there was the sound of light footsteps coming up the stairs to the landing. "That's Amy!" Sheldon practically threw the remote control onto the table and was at the door before anyone even heard the sound of Amy's sensible shoes approach the apartment. He flung open the door just as Amy was about to tap lightly on it and knew instantly that she'd had a rough time of things. Her eyes were puffy and wouldn't meet his face, so Sheldon deduced that she'd been crying recently as the tip of her nose was also red…funny how he found that so appealing. He restrained himself from folding her into his arms to offer her a comforting hug as per their relationship agreement and simply stepped aside to allow Amy entry into the apartment.

"Hey, sweetie…everything okay?" Penny looked up from where she was struggling not to fall asleep against Leonard's shoulder and saw instantly that everything was definitely not okay in Amy's world.

"Amy, may I offer you a warm beverage? Some tea, or perhaps some hot cocoa?" Sheldon asked softly, as he took in the way Amy was holding her arms wrapped around her middle as if she were holding her insides together. Leonard was about to make a snarky comment at how they were in the middle of August and that having cocoa in a month without an 'r' was surely against all the rules…one threatening glare from Penny had him instinctively snapping his jaw shut and protecting his already abused arm.

"Thank you, Sheldon. Perhaps a mug of cocoa might be just what I am in need of right now." Amy kept her arms folded around her middle and headed for the breakfast bar, where there was an empty chair.

"Here Ames…take my seat." Penny offered as she left the middle cushion on the couch to perch on Leonard's lap. "Hey, I maybe a girl from Nebraska, but I don't see any of you 'gentlemen' offering your seat up to a lady who has obviously had a hard day." Penny looked over at Sheldon in particular but as he was otherwise occupied fixing Amy's drink he had shut off his 'vulcan hearing' to fully concentrate on his task.

"Thank you, Penny for the offer. But I think that I am just going to sip my drink and go home."

"Home...? But you've only just got here." Sheldon realised his tone was bordering on whining and lowered it slightly so that only Amy could hear. "I was going to offer you a consoling hug as per our relationship agreement but didn't want to do it in front of 'them'. Would you like me to ask them all to leave so that we can talk privately?"

"That's very sweet of you, Sheldon…but…" Amy felt tears welling in her eyes and blinked furiously to hold them back, a lone tear slid out from under her eyelashes anyway and she felt it drip onto her hands clasped on her lap.

"Ames…what is it, come on you can tell us, sweetie…" Penny was instantly at her friends side, closely followed by Bernadette who had woken Howard from his light snooze with a sharp jab to the ribs.

"I lost Betsy today…" Amy couldn't contain her emotions any longer and buried her head in a tissue that bore the stains of a previous bout of crying in the car on the journey over.

"Betsy…?" Penny mouthed over at Bernadette who shrugged her shoulders, neither women were aware of Amy's academic friends outside of their own small group and they hadn't come across the name before.

"Oh my…" Sheldon sighed as he set the pan of warm milk aside so that he could deal with the situation. Nudging Penny aside slightly he took a seat on the barstool next to Amy and gently laid his hand on top of hers. "Penny, I think this situation calls for a little more zip in her cocoa rather than mere milk. You must have something in your liquor stash that would do…" Penny was still looking on at the fact that Sheldon was willingly holding onto Amy's hand and had to be nudged out of her stupor by Bernadette jabbing her elbow into her side.

"Penny, go and get the liquor…and hurry back!"

"Please don't go to any trouble on my account, I can't stay too long and I have to drive home…I don't want my vision impaired by the haze of rum." Amy barely looked up from where her fingers were curled around Sheldon's as if he were the only thing holding her together.

"Penny, pour the milk. Bernadette, add the mini marshmallows – precisely…."

"Seven, I know Sheldon." Bernadette sighed as she and Penny walked around the counter to carry out Sheldon's instructions, all the while leaning slightly over in order to hear the quiet conversation taking place behind them.

"You remember Betsy?"

"How could I forget…that image of the crocodile stayed with me for weeks." Sheldon gave a little shiver and Amy squeezed his hand a little to make him feel better. Without even having to think about it, Sheldon instinctively returned her gesture before pulling her off the stool and steering her toward the couch. "Are you hungry? These cretins ate the cannelloni that I ordered for you, but I saved you my lasagne," Sheldon offered quietly and Amy gasped.

"Oh, Sheldon – you didn't eat? You should have gone ahead without me, I'm really not hungry and as I said earlier, I really can't stay that long."

"May I at least take your overcoat?" Sheldon offered, he still couldn't believe that she was wearing an overcoat in the middle of August, but then he recollected that Amy's natural body temperature ran a few degrees cooler than the average person; one of the many reasons she continued to wear multiple layers of clothing even in the middle of summer. Amy shook her head, and if anything, pulled it a little closer around her body. Sheldon noticed a slight twitch as she did so and as soon as Amy saw that he'd noticed she turned around to head for the door. "Wait! Where are you going? You haven't even had your cocoa yet!" Sheldon called out before she had even taken a few steps and Amy halted to look over her shoulder.

"If I tell you, do you promise not to get all freaked out on me?" She asked as she beckoned him to come a little closer, Sheldon nodded and Amy asked him to bend down so that she could whisper in his ear. He stood back in amazement, looking from her face to the way she was holding her arms across her waist and then back up to her eyes again.

"Really? Can I look?" Sheldon asked, leaning in a little closer.

"Ooh…this is getting steamy…better than some dumb ole movie any day." Penny nudged Bernadette who giggled in response, Howard and Leonard were just as fascinated by the events by the door and the tips of Amy's ears grew pink with embarrassement.

"Okay, but not here. Let's step out into the lobby for a moment." Amy suggested, and Sheldon nodded in agreement. He gently placed a hand at her waist to steer her outside and as soon as the door closed behind them there was a desperate race to see who could get to the peep hole first.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: So, what is it that Amy couldn't show Sheldon inside the apartment, what exactly is she trying to hide?**

"Oh my god…she's opening her coat and Sheldon's gone all gooey!" Penny gasped having beaten everyone by taking a flying leap over the coffee table.

"Move it, sister. Let someone else in on the action." Bernadette snapped, her irritation showing by the way she was suddenly sounding more like Howard's mother than, well, Howard's mother. She elbowed everyone out of the way and strained to see out of the peep hole. Howard sighed and knelt on the floor, knowing instinctively that Bernadette would want him to act as her footstool before she even asked him. She jumped onto his back and pressed her eye against the door.

"Well, I think Sheldon's finally worked out where second base is…" She remarked, "He seems to like it too, he's wearing that cute little koala face he gets whenever he's happy. Uh-oh, places everyone, they're coming back in!"

"What already? He found second base and didn't even give her a peck on the lips? I can't believe that he'd skip that part." Howard groaned as they quickly resumed their earlier positions, if Sheldon noticed they were all slightly red faced and out of breath he either ignored them or just hadn't noticed. He steered Amy toward the couch again, and gently removed her outer garment to reveal what she had been hiding all evening. There were gasps of amazement at the sight of the tiny bundle strapped to her chest.

"Penny, please reheat some more milk – make it Leonard's soy mixture. We don't want to cause any dietary distress…Amy did you think about bringing along some sterilised bottles?"

"In my bag, I just grabbed everything I could and ran out of there…" Amy sat perched on the edge of the couch and gazed down at the tiny creature in the makeshift sling she'd fashioned using the first aid kit from her lab.

"How…?" Leonard leant forward and reached out a hand to touch the tiny face, a sharp rap on his knuckles had him withdrawing his hand with a pained expression.

"Germs, Leonard. Really, we're dealing with a fragile creature barely two hours out of it's mother's womb and you want to place those unsanitary things all over it…Certainly not! If anyone wants to touch it, you will need to scrub your hands thoroughly with the antibacterial cleanser in the bathroom cabinet and then present them for inspection…" Before Sheldon could finish his sentence there was a mad scramble for the bathroom, with Howard having the advantage of being closest to the door.  
>"Howard Wolowitz! You let me in there otherwise there will be no monkey business for you when we get home…"<p>

"Almost done, Bernie – there!" Howard delicately opened the door using just the tips of his fingers and walked down the hallway holding his hands in the air as if he were a surgeon about to delve into open heart surgery.

"No, not clean enough. Go back and scrub them again, make sure you get under those fingernails this time, buster." Sheldon gave Howard's hands a cursory glance before sending him back to the bathroom with a haughty wave of dismissal. "That goes for everyone! Under the fingernails and in between your fingers too..." He raised his voice slightly and there was a chorus of groans from the bathroom where he could hear Bernadette and Leonard fighting over who got to use the nailbrush first. In the meantime, Sheldon had poured the lukewarm soy milk into a tiny baby's bottle and was debating what the best position was to feed the baby in. He finally let out a sigh and motioned for Amy to slide over.

"Here, if you lean against the end of the couch then you will be able to feed him without jostling him about too much."

"Her…Betsy had a little girl. It all happened so quickly, we didn't even realise she was in labour until it was almost over. She haemorrhaged and there was nothing we could do to save her. The rest of the team wanted to perform an autopsy straight away, and then they were talking about how they were going to do the same thing to this little poppet…and I just grabbed her and ran…"

"You did the right thing, Amy."

"Despite the fact that I've probably brought all sorts of germs into your household and I'm now sitting feeding a baby Capuchin monkey on your end of the couch…she hasn't even had her first bath yet!" Amy glanced over at Sheldon who was sitting next to her on the middle expression with a look of intense concentration on his face.

"Yes, that is a problem. But luckily for you, I am a genius and already have a solution!" Sheldon rose from the couch and held out his arms in a typical 'gimme' fashion.

"Sheldon…"

"Move over lil' lady and hand me that baby!" Sheldon demanded, his twang decidedly pronounced in his excitement. Amy sighed as she slid into the vacant spot and prepared to take the little baby out of the sling.

"You have to hold her as close to your body as you can, she can't regulate her own body temperature as yet. I'll need to go out and see if I can get one of those Kangaroo slings that they use for premature babies…" Amy mused as she struggled to release the knot holding the temporary sling in place; Sheldon gave a sigh and simply slid his hands inside the sling and removed the baby; completely ignoring the fact that his hands had brushed over Amy's breasts whilst doing so. He settled back into his spot and nestled the baby capuchin in his arms and brushed the nipple of the bottle over her tiny mouth.

"C'mon, open up for Uncle Shelly. That's it Darlin'…" Sheldon crooned as the monkey finally caught onto the nipple and started taking in the milk. "There's more antibacterial soap under the kitchen sink, if you hurry you can get another cuddle in before everyone else busts back in." Sheldon nodded over to the kitchen area and Amy just gave him a look which indicated she was not in the best frame of mind.

"Sheldon, I helped that little baby struggle out of it's mother's womb tonight…I've been disinfected and scrubbed with enough antibacterial soap to rival even you…who if I may point out, has not even followed his own procedures and is now hugging a new born Capuchin monkey against his precious Flash t-shirt when she is still covered in the amniotic fluid from her mother's belly." Sheldon just looked up at Amy as if to say; and your point is? She shrugged and settled back against the cushions making a list on her notepad of everything she would need to take care of the infant until she could safely donate her to the zoo.

"Don't forget nappies…and soy formula…we're going to need one of those baby bath things too…" Sheldon peered over her shoulder to scan over her notes, Amy looked up with a frown.

"There is no 'we' in this situation, Sheldon. I'm going to have to take at least six weeks sabbatical from the university in order to ensure the baby's survival…I think if I cite a slight breakdown I should be able to get away with it."

"What on earth do you mean, there is no 'we'? I'm not going to just leave you with all of the responsibility for looking after the baby. What kind of a father do you think that would make me?"

"Sheldon, it's a monkey; not a real baby. I'm not her mother and you are not her father." Amy explained patiently as if she were explaining the facts of life to a child. Sheldon merely narrowed his eyes at his girlfriend and turned his attention back to the infant on his chest.

"Don't you listen to nasty auntie Amy, Uncle Shelly's gonna take real good care of you…Why don't you close those little peepers of yours and get some shut eye? Mmm, that's it, I know it's been a hard day for you…that's it close those little eyes and go to dreamland…ssshhhh…" Sheldon kept crooning to the tiny little creature until he was sure she was asleep, and it was only then that he realised that Amy had fallen asleep as well and currently nestled against his other shoulder. He sighed a little before raising his arm so that Amy could rest more easily and felt her arm wrap around his waist, he let his own arm fall around her shoulder and she snuggled in to his warmth. He looked around to see Howard, Bernadette, Leonard and Penny coming out of the bathroom finally and raised his hand to his lips to indicate they should remain silent.

"I've just got them both settled, no sudden moves and you can all have a quick look before you leave. Penny – I believe Amy has started a list of essential items needed to ensure the baby's survival; please take the money out of my wallet and visit the store for me. Leonard, I would appreciate it if you could pass me a towel from the linen closet so that I may form some type of diaper…I believe that we may have already experienced a slight leakage…" Penny leant over Sheldon's shoulder to gently run her hand across the baby's tiny arm and sighed when she was once again elbowed out of the way by Bernadette.

"Don't you have shopping to do? Now, beat it!" Bernadette snapped and then her usual girlish tone took over when she saw how closely the three of them were nestled against each other on the couch. "It's like our own little evolution right in front of our eyes…" Bernadette gently stroked the baby's back, making sure that her fingers didn't stray into Sheldon territory and then she leant over to kiss Amy gently on the cheek. "Poor kid, she's had a tough one alright. I know how hard it is to lose something that you've become attached to, I remember the faces of each and every little bunny that I've injected with malaria and ebola over the years…it never really goes away."

"Okay, Bernie. Let's get you home before you start crying over the rats too…"Howard went to steer his wife away from the couch until a slight cough from Sheldon stopped him in his tracks.

"So you're just going to walk out of here without even a glance at our little Marie?"

"Marie, really?"

"Well, I was going to call her Dian after Dian Fossey; but that didn't work out too well for her."  
>"And you think Marie is going to be any better? I mean, the woman did die due to the exposure to her own experiments."<p>

"Mmmm…maybe I'll just call her Pepper after all."

"Pepper Potts?"

"Yeah, after all I do so love Iron Man, and Pepper seems so much happier in the movies." Sheldon explained with a slight shrug.

"Okay, goodnight Sheldon. Goodnight, Pepper." Howard nodded in Pepper's direction and waved a hand, he stopped when he heard Sheldon sigh again. "Goodnight, Amy."

"That's better, goodnight Howard, Bernadette." Sheldon felt a little more moisture seep out of Pepper's bottom and somehow managed not to leap of the couch to head straight into the shower. He waited patiently for Leonard to come back into the room with a handful of handtowels and some safety pins.

"I think these should be small enough…how do we?" Leonard hesitated with the towels in his hand and Sheldon sighed as he leant forward on the couch, being careful not to jostle Pepper or Amy too much. He took a towel from Leonard and quickly formed the classic kite formation for a diaper, he placed the sleeping capuchin gently on the towel and folded the corners into place, securely fastening them with a pin.

"That should be sufficient until Penny comes back with the appropriate sized diapers. Now Leonard, I sorely in need of a shower and change of clothes…would you mind taking my spot for a few moments whilst I am otherwise engaged." Sheldon glanced up at Leonard who was blinking back tears from his eyes – at last, he Leonard Hopfstadter was being invited to occupy the sacred spot that was Sheldon's.

"I don't know what to say…"

"Oh don't get all hippy dippy on me now, Leonard. I don't want Amy waking up with a crick in her neck because she's suddenly lost her support system…and besides I need someone to hold Pepper until I return. Amy said that we need to keep her as close to our bodies as possible in order for her to maintain a steady body temperature." Sheldon snapped his fingers in Leonard's face and prepared to make a move. "On three…one, two…" When they reached the count of three Leonard slipped into Sheldon's spot and saw Amy shift slightly in her sleep and wrinkle her nose as the scent of Leonard's cologne reached her nostrils. She moved slightly away, curling her arms around her own body as if she could already tell that Sheldon was no longer her cuddle companion. Sheldon smirked at the sight as he carefully placed the sleeping Pepper into Leonard's arms and waited for a moment until he was sure that she was settled.

"Now remember, no sudden movements…Amy doesn't like people that get too handsy, and I've already told you that she's not for you."

"Sheldon…" Leonard sighed, did they really have to have this conversation all over again? "I threw my groin out doing the hokey pokey…"

"Bazinga!" Sheldon threw over his shoulder as he sauntered down the hallway, thinking what impeccable taste his girlfriend had; he hadn't missed the wrinkled nose as she realised that his talc scented skin had been replaced by some odious, cheap cologne; probably the same bottle that Penny gave Leonard for his birthday every year since they had met.


End file.
